Far less one than that of allowing
oneself to be decided by its humors
- and to this danger every executive artist is especially
exposed, if he does not take courage resolutely and on principle
to stand earnestly and consistently by his conviction, and to
produce those works which he knows to be the best, whether people
like them or not.
It is of no consequence, then, in how far my faint-heartedness in
regard to Schumann's pianoforte compositions might possibly be
excused by the all-ruling taste of the day, but I did without
thinking of it thereby set a bad example, for which I can hardly
make amends again. The stream of custom and the slavery of the
artist, who is directed to the encouragement and applause of the
multitude for the maintenance and improvement of his existence
and his renown, is such a pull-back, that, even to the better-
minded and more courageous ones, among whom I am proud to reckon
myself, it is intensely difficult to preserve their better ego in
the face of all the covetous, distracted, and - despite their
large number - backward-in-paying We.
There is in Art a pernicious offence, of which most of us are
guilty through carelessness and fickleness; I might call it the
Pilate offence.
